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Santi Gioacchino e Anna ai Monti
Santi Gioacchino e Anna ai Monti is an 18th century former convent church in the rione Monti. The postal address is Via Monte Polacco 5, but its entrance is at the west end of Via in Selci and is directly opposite the stairs down to the Cavour metro station. Pictures of the church at Wikimedia Commons are here. There is an English Wikipedia page here. Name The dedication is to SS Joachim and Anne, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary. When it was built the church was actually dedicated to St Joachim on his own, and to St Francis of Paola who was the founder of the Minim religious family. The original name was San Gioacchino alla Suburra. Do not confuse this church with Santi Gioacchino e Anna al Tuscolano -the church in Monti is not titular. History Paolotte The church is a relatively late foundation, and did not exist before the 18th century. A foundation year of 1589 can be found in online sources, and this is a result of confusion with the neighbouring convent of Santa Maria della Purificazione ai Monti. According to Armellini quoting from a biography of the foundress, a rich priest called P. Francesco Narici provided a patrimony for a new convent in Rome of Minim nuns in 1722, the Suore Paolotte ''or ''Suore Oblate di San Francesco di Paola. ''This was intended as a female partner community for the Minim friars nearby at San Francesco a Paola, but was not originally on the site of the present church. The foundress was Maria Diomira di San Giuseppe, who set up her community initially in a house in the Suburra but later moved it to another one near the church of Santa Prassede. Only in 1731 did the nuns buy a house on the site of the present convent, where they settled down. As finances allowed, they bought neighbouring properties and so established a decent landholding. The struggle to build a proper convent was protracted. The sisters initiated the project in 1746, but had to put it on hold in 1753. Available funds only allowed a re-start in 1770, and final completion of the church and large convent in 1780. The former was consecrated in 1781 by Pope Pius VI. The architect was Giovanni Francesco Fiori. The famous Esquiline Treasure, a hoard of precious objects dating from the 4th century, was found by workmen digging somewhere in the convent's property. The exact location of the discovery is unknown. It has been claimed that the treasure was found during the construction of the convent and that its sale helped the nuns to finish it, but it was actually found in 1793 -after the complex was finished. Perhaps it was discovered in a laying out of the convent garden after building work had finished. Mantellate The unfortunate nuns enjoyed full occupation of their convent for less than a hundred years. In 1873 the freehold of the complex was sequestered by the Italian government, together with almost all other convents in Rome, but the sisters managed to remain in occupation. However, in 1884 they had to make room for the ''Mantellate ''nuns who had been evicted from Santi Maria della Visitazione e Francesco di Sales delle Mantellate. The latter community remained until 1897. The ''Paolotte ''were still here then, but seem to have left soon after. They are now at Grottaferrata outside Rome. In contrast, the ''Mantellate ''survive in Rome at Santa Maria Addolorata delle Monache Mantellate where they ended up in 1958. Adoratrci A third congregation arrived soon after, the "Perpetual Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament" (Adoratrici Perpetue del Santissimo Sacramento) known as ''Sacramentine. These had originally been resident at San Gioacchino e Anna alle Quattro Fontane after their foundation at Rome in 1807, leading to another easy confusion. They moved to Santa Maria Maddalena al Quirinale in 1839, and this church then became famous in the city for its privilege of perpetual public exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at a time when this was rare. The nuns also had their convent -and all its contents- confiscated by the government in 1873. However, they were allowed to remain in residence for another thirteen years. The subsequent sequestration and demolition by the Italian government in 1886 to create public gardens caused serious offence to ordinary Catholic believers in the city. The Adoratrici nuns remained here after their move for eighty years. However, they were very short of money and the premises were cramped. Very fortunately for them, it was discovered in the mid 20th century that they owned a piece of land at Tre Fontane and the sale of this enabled them to build a new convent. They moved to this, Gesù Sommo ed Eterno Sacerdote, in 1968. Carabinieri The rest of the convent became a Roman headquarters of the Carabinieri or national military police of Italy. So, after the nuns moved the church became a spiritual and liturgical centre for the Carabinieri. ''As such it has been dependent on the parish of San Martino ai Monti, with its own diocesan priest in charge. The ''Carabinieri ''vacated the convent around the turn of the millennium, and this left the church with no pastoral justification and an uncertain future. Ethiopian Orthodox However, Pope St John Paul II approved its being lent to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church as a place of worship for the Ethiopian expatriate community at Rome. The priest in charge of the community is Melate Tsehay Ghebre Tinsae Hailu. However, this is still a functioning Roman Catholic church and the priest in charge of the church is Don Giovanni Ippolito. There has been a recent restoration, and the façade has been re-painted. Exterior Layout The overall exterior plan of the edifice is based on a short rectangle, with an attached five-sided apse at a much lower elevation which contained the nuns' choir (apparently). The roofs of nave and apse are pitched and tiled, and the nave roof is hipped at the apse end. There is a little campanile or bellcote attached to the top of the left hand side wall, which is invisible from the street. Façade The 18th century late Baroque (''tardobarocco) façade has four gigantic pilasters with derivative Composite capitals, the volutes of which are unusually prominent. The central two are tripletted, that is, they look as if the front pilaster is partially hiding two more. These pilasters support an entablature with a blank frieze and posts above the pilaster capitals. The tripletted pilasters support matching posts. There is a crowning triangular pediment, enclosing a segmental pediment which itself contains a small elliptical pediment. This segmental pediment is brought forward into the vertical plane defined by the entablature corner posts, and its ends are further brought forward over the tripletted posts. The portion of the triangular pediment behind it, including the gable tip, is also brought forward. There are five rectangular windows. Two are on each side, one above the other in between the pilasters, and one is above the door and intrudes into the entablature. The top two of the side windows have scallop-shell decorations above them. In front of the door there are a few steps. The doorcase is unusually tall, as it encloses a transom window as well as the door, and above it is a raised segmental pediment resting on strap corbels and containing a putto's head with swags. The recently restored façade is now in a tan colour with architectural details in pale grey. Interior Layout Inside, the church has a Greek cross plan with a nave having a central saucer dome, which is false because it has no exterior aspect. There is a chapel in each side arm, and a slightly longer rectangular sanctuary. The apsidal construction visible behind the church on the outside is not now part of the interior. Nave The cupola has four pendentives formed by the ends of the barrel vaults over the arms of the cross. The dome itself has a central tondo with a stucco representation of The Dove of the Holy Spirit in Glory, ''which is accompanied by winged putto's heads. There is no other decoration; the rest of the cupola is divided into four sectors by wide ribs. The pendentives have the four symbols of the Evangelists, each with four birds, wings. The barrel-vaulted ceilings of the cross arms have been embellished to look as if they have square coffering with rosettes. The piers supporting the dome have diagonal faces which are simply decorated with large panels, but each diagonal face is flanked by a pair of bunched Corinthian pilasters below the mouth of the barrel vault. These pilasters support an entablature which runs round the entire interior, and which is not highly decorated. The overall decoration after the recent restoration is rather cool, in light greys and a pale tan. Maria Agnese del Verbo Incarnato A very interesting holy water stoup bears an epigraph in memory of the most famous of the sisters in the convent, Maria Agnese del Verbo Incarnato who died in 1810. She was a visionary and a prophet, and certain revelations and visions that she had concerning the Devotion to the Precious Blood and its propagation were instrumental in persuading St Gaspar del Bufalo to found the Missionaries of the Precious Blood. The stoup itself is supported by a pair of putti,and is backed by an alabaster slab with double volutes to the sides and the epitaph above. The putti stand on a pedestal with two red marble vases in half-relief, and this pedestal is flanked by a pair of panels in green marble. Sanctuary The sanctuary is rectangular, with a door on each side having a segmental pediment. Over each door is a balcony with a pin balustrade which is just slightly corbelled out. The altar aedicule is bowed, that is, convex and has a pair of piers in green marble facing out diagonally. The outer faces of these have ribbed pilaster strips applied with gilded Corinthian capitals, offset by triglyphs on the inner faces. These two piers support a pair of deep posts which are part of a very ornate entablature having a molded architrave, flower swags on the frieze and both egg-and-dart and dentillation on the cornice. These decorative elements are gilded. On each post is a winged putto's head, and another one is over the round-headed altarpiece. The posts support two halves of a split and separated segmental pediment, and into the gap is inserted a gilded glory with more putto's heads and which is surmounted by a cross. The anonymous late 18th century altarpiece depicts ''Our Lady as a Girl with SS Joachim and Anne. Side chapels One of the side chapels is dedicated to the Crucifix, and has a frontal embellished with alabaster. The other one seems to have been dedicated to St Francis of Paola, the founder of the Minims. The picture there is not fitted to the frame, and apparently the original painting was of the Immaculate Conception. Access and liturgy The church only seems to be open for liturgical events. According to the Diocese, Mass in the Roman rite is celebrated on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 18:45. The feast of SS Joachim and Anne, the parents of Our Lady, is celebrated on 26 July and there should be Mass here on that date. The two saints used to have separate feast-days, St Anne being on this date and St Joachim on the Sunday in the octave of the Assumption in August. Hence, many older churches in Rome have dedications to one or the other (for example, see San Gioacchino ai Prati di Castello or Sant'Anna dei Palafrenieri). However, these two celebrations were combined in 1970. The Church was keen that at least one married couple be venerated together as saints. The Ethiopian community celebrate their Eucharistic liturgy on Sundays at 9:30, the liturgical language being Ge'ez. There is another liturgy on Thursdays at 17:00, intended for young people. Catholics, whether of the Roman or Ethiopian rites, should not receive Communion at these Eucharists. The Orthodox take this seriously. External links Official diocesan web-page Italian Wikipedia page Nolli map (look for 62) This shows the old convent, which had no proper church. "De Alvariis" gallery on Flickr Info.roma web-page Annas Rom Guide (in Danish) Category:Catholic churchesCategory:Dedications to St JoachimCategory:Dedications to St AnneCategory:18th centuryCategory:Rione MontiCategory:Convent churches and chapels